Found out today that Damien has heartworms, and the vets have no medicine for him. The doc gave him a steroid shot, and some antibiotics to help with his breathing, but basically said that there's nothing they can do without Immiticide, which they ran out of 6 weeks ago, and is not being produced right now, with no word of when anymore will be shipped out.

I'm actually looking into that right now. The vet here said that he will not use the slow method and it doesn't look like something to try at home. I want to take him elsewhere, but the visit tapped me out. I have $8.00 to my name now, and no vet around will see him without full payment at the time of the visit.

I have him laying down and taking it easy for now, until I can figure something out.

Checked them out as well. my credit is so bad that I doubt I'll be approved, but I'm trying. I was actually looking into them for some medical needs for myself and seen that they cover animals too. If I can get it, I'll use it for Damien, and let my care wait. My problem isn't going to kill me, just some pain. Not too worried about going into debt, I'm already there anyway.

I just called around and was able to talk to 1 vet's office. They said that without seeing him they couldn't really say much, but that they don't use the slow method either, and to wait it out, and hope that the Immiticide production gets rolling again.

He did tell me about a product that I could try, but said that he doesn't know too much about it. He said that he has heard of it working, but has never seen it for himself, and therefore could not recommend it. Basically that it was up to me, and what do I have to lose type of thing.

Anyway here is the product, has anyone heard of this? Does it really work, at least enough to keep the problem from getting worse until hopefully the medicine is available, or I can find a vet that will go with the slow method?

I can't find any real evidence that the hwf stuff actually works or that it is safe, so with the vets around here not wanting to help, I will be buying some Doxycycline and some Heartgard Friday when I get paid and starting him on that until the time comes that the Immiticide is available again. It's scary stuff to deal with, but knowing what will happen if I wait and the medicine doesn't come back in time is scarier.

I do have questions for anyone who has used the slow kill method before. Do you give the Doxycycline for a month before starting the Heartgard, the way you do when using the Immiticide, or start with both? Another question is what heartgard is best for this, regular, or plus?

I don't want to overdo anything and make the situation worse, but I can't sit back and do nothing.

chuey_316 wrote:I just called around and was able to talk to 1 vet's office. They said that without seeing him they couldn't really say much, but that they don't use the slow method either, and to wait it out, and hope that the Immiticide production gets rolling again.

He did tell me about a product that I could try, but said that he doesn't know too much about it. He said that he has heard of it working, but has never seen it for himself, and therefore could not recommend it. Basically that it was up to me, and what do I have to lose type of thing.

Anyway here is the product, has anyone heard of this? Does it really work, at least enough to keep the problem from getting worse until hopefully the medicine is available, or I can find a vet that will go with the slow method?

My reason at 1st was that the vet told me not to give him any preventative because giving it to a dog with heart worms will send them into shock and kill them. After doing the research I see that this is not the case with the modern monthly preventatives.

Sorry for all these questions, but I don't want to chance any mistakes with Damien. I found the answer to the heartgard/heartgard plus question, but I have another one.

I understand that it is the ivermectin that does the work, and I see that some people, including some here use ivomec and a syringe in place of heartgard do in part to the price difference. Would this be suitable to use with a slow kill approach, along with the Doxycycline?

This would be preferable for me as I could buy a bottle and not have to worry about ordering more heartgard everytime I start running low, and of course the price difference is drastic, which would help me same for the Immiticide treatment if/when it becomes available again.

I would want to know the worms burden and how advanced the disease is before deciding which way to go, and that can be done through x rays and echo on top of looking at the symptoms. Were you explained that part? What are the symptoms so far?

chuey_316 wrote:My reason at 1st was that the vet told me not to give him any preventative because giving it to a dog with heart worms will send them into shock and kill them.

So can do Immiticide, which kills adult worms on a larger scale and pulmonary thromboembolism is always a risk when treatings, higher when the worms burden is heavy and a dog is kept active. Many vets give an ivermectin-based preventive to dogs that are infected , since it kills developing larvae and microfilaria so that farther infection are prevented and then leave the dog on it till the worms are gone. The slow kill is more gentle technically, but not without possible complication either, since it takes longer for the worms to be killed and the dyeing worms can still do damage. If an owner does not want to go the Immiticide route, for one reason or the other, that is what is usually done.

I think that it would be a better option than leaving your dog without treatment at all, while waiting for the Immiticide, since you don't know when it will come. One of my rescue dogs was HW positive and I chose to put him on Doxycycline for almost two months , preventative (dog was already on it but threw negatives) and one single dose of Immiticide, after looking at his x rays and echo. His latest HW tests are negative.

He recently started having a cough, not alot, maybe a few per day, and for the last 2 days his food and water consumption went down. He's still eating and drinking though, just not as much. His temp is also about 2 degree's higher than normal. When the vet did the test for microfilaria in the blood, he said that each cell had ~50 of them.

Damien is an inside dog and normally is on heartgard minus the late fall/winter months. Starting in February I began a lengthy legal battle in court which is almost complete now, and it completely slipped my mind. It turns out that my girlfriend had been putting him outside while I was at work during the spring and summer and he contracted it during that time. I feel horrible about it, but what's done is done, and I have to focus on doing whatever can be done now.

Yes, it does not take much for dogs to get this nasty disease. I live in a dry desert and still give it all year around because I don't want to risk it. If your vet does not know when the Immiticide can be ordered again then he might have to think about the slow kill since a dog should not be left without any treatment.Maybe you can take it upon yourself to call other clinic and see if they have any left.